"Lieutenant Colonel," he said in a tone that had a touch of bitterness.

"Hey, you were a real officer before all this. I wear a colonel's uniform, and I know that all I am is a publicity stunt for UNEF," there was definitely bitterness in my voice. "I'll be happy when UNEF finds an excuse to knock me back down to sergeant, and I can be a real soldier again. Last thing I want to do is be a fobbit and ride a desk."

"Fobbit?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, sorry, US Army slang. A fobbit is a guy who stays safe inside the fence at a Forward Operating Base, while real soldiers are out in the field. Someone who pushes paper instead of carrying a rifle."

"Ah, yes. We have those in our army, also. On this planet, though, there is no true rear area, I think. When the enemy can attack from orbit, everywhere on the surface of the planet is the front lines."

"True enough." I stood up and walked over to the window. "I was at Fort Arrow. Before that, my EOT was at a hamster village near the bend in that river, west of those mountains," I pointed unhelpfully. "Where are you stationed?"

We talked about our experiences on Paradise, and our lives before the Ruhar attacked. Chang had been an artillery officer in the People's Liberation Army, a career officer from a military family. He was just as worried about his family back on Earth as I was, the Chinese had not heard anything either; no messages or letters from home, no news, nothing. Chang was a good guy, professional, certainly a better office that I  was. He was also not looking forward to being paraded around as a public relations stunt by UNEF, although he thought that would be lower-key than what I expected. During the action that had resulted in him being promoted, he'd lost most of his men, including a lieutenant who was the only son of a high-ranking government official. The Chinese Army on Paradise wasn't eager to trumpet Chang's action too loudly. If I'd gotten the son of a senator killed, my military career would hit a roadblock for sure.

My zPhone beeped, it was Lt Reynolds, wondering where the hell was, only she said it politely. "We're on an observation deck, I think we're two," Chang held up three fingers, "no, three levels down. There's a bar here. A bar for the Kristang," I hastened to add.

"What happened to the Kristang assigned to you?"

"He was, uh, he had something important to do." I said, aware the Kristang were almost certainly listening. Important to do, like sleeping until he awoke with a hangover.

"Sir, please, stay where you are. Is Lt Colonel Chang with you?"

"Yeah, he's here, we're not going anywhere."